Why a Staycation May Be Just the Vacation You Need

It’s important to take the time to unplug, unwind, and relax every now and again. A lot of people take vacation time to focus on taking a break and creating a positive work-life balance. Taking time for yourself is good, but taking a big vacation to do it is not always feasible. Fortunately, there’s more than one way to take a vacation.

A staycation is a vacation that you take where you still get to go home to your own bed at night. This can mean taking a day trip to a close location, or even just exploring your own city. In fact, there are a lot of reasons why a staycation might make more sense for you than a traditional vacation. Not only is a staycation cheaper, but it also cuts down on your travel time. It’ll give you time to discover the surroundings close to the city you live in, and you’ll have more energy to do more exciting activities. For those who find extensive travel to be stressful, a staycation can work to reduce your overall stress.

It Won’t Break the Bank

A vacation can be a pricey luxury, so it’s not feasible for everyone. For those looking into retirement investing and saving, it might not be in the cards to go take a pricey vacation right now. Fortunately, a staycation can be adjusted to fit your finances and interests. You can find things to do for free, or splurge a little for an extra-special experience.

Taking a few days off of work or away from your normal responsibilities to stay at home and relax, read, or watch television is a great staycation. Another option is taking advantage of the healing, burnout-reducing nature of the outdoors with just a long walk in a beautiful park or hiking in nearby foothills, which doesn’t cost a thing. You can even choose to stay at a nice hotel in town to combine the relaxation of a hotel stay with the cost-effective nature of choosing not to leave your city. However you choose to create your staycation, it doesn’t have to break the bank.

Saving on Travel Time

Picking an area close by, or staying in your city, can really save you on travel time. Many vacations involve a day’s travel there and back. This can mean more time off work, and more exhaustion due to all the travel and jet lag. It can be helpful to travel light, but many find that long drives, flights, or being far away from home can be stressful and hard on the body.

If you can relate, then a staycation can provide a break without all of the added travel time. You might host a staycation weekend at your house with your grandkids, or camp for a week just outside of city limits in order to get all of the fun involved with a vacation without losing time to travel.

Discovering Your Home State

Many people enjoy the idea of traveling the world, but they haven’t even discovered their own neck of the woods. By taking a staycation, you can focus on discovering all of the beautiful things right in your own backyard. You might pack some food, water, and supplies and go on an off-roading adventure into the surrounding wilderness. You might go to a nearby town you’ve never been to and stay in a bed and breakfast. You could try camping at a national park nearby. Your own home state has a lot of beauty and adventure to offer that you don’t have to travel far to see.

You’ll Have More Energy

Taking a long-distance trip can be exhausting. Instead of traveling to a new location, do something new in your own city. By staying close by, you can spend the energy that would have gone into navigating airports or driving for hours on end to focus on doing something adventurous in your vicinity, and then get to go back to your own home to relax. On an extended vacation, you have to navigate to all of your locations, eat out for most of your meals, and be on the go all of the time. A staycation doesn’t require any of that, so you’ll have more energy to do something like mountain bike, go hiking, or even learn how to surf if you’re near the ocean or a surf park. Even just going to restaurants or museums in your city that you’ve never been to can be your adventure for your staycation.

Reducing Stress

The idea behind a vacation is usually to remove yourself from the stresses of daily life by having fun and taking it easy. While a traditional vacation can provide a stress release, a staycation can be especially beneficial in this area. When you spend a lot of money to go to a new location on vacation, you might feel like you need to get out and see everything, which can be stressful.

In addition to that, many people find leaving home or traveling to be stressful in general. During your staycation, you can really focus on de-stressing. Maybe you take more time to sit with a book or you want to focus on your garden. You could even try meditating. A staycation can be a vacation of the mind, which can be really helpful in reducing stress.

If you’re looking to take a break from life but you don’t want to spend the money or take a lot of time to travel, a staycation can be perfect for you. It can give you time to discover your own backyard or do something new without being completely exhausted. At the end of it all, it can be the perfect way to reduce stress. Though a traditional vacation is also great, a staycation can often be just the vacation you need.

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